Druid
The Druid is available in Wazhack v1.2 Description The Druid starts with a sickle that is particularly effective against molds and plants. He also has a random, but significant amount of scrolls of taming of random blessed/(un)cursed status. He also starts with a supply of mushrooms with a variety of uses. With his Mycology talent, they may be used to make potions. Or used to summon aid! (see Strategy below). Talents *Gastronomy *First Aid *Dual Wielding *Weapon Precision *Mycology *Beast Mastery *Dweomery *Animal Forms *Nightmare Mode Starting Skills: *Life Spell: 1 point Starting Pet: Tabby Kitten Strategy First off, the druid gets some interesting tools to start with; his scrolls of taming can get you out of a bad situation, or be used with beast mastery to give you long term friendly monsters that will escort you through the dungeon, though the scrolls are generally somewhat rare and thus best saved for emergencies or for taming something worthwhile, as opposed to the first goblin you find. Even the cursed ones (never use them) can be sold for a fair amount (~230 gold) to a merchant. Also your starting mushrooms can be used to make potions with the Mycology talent, but upon finding a few more can also can be used to summon pixies (blue mushrooms) and The Leprechaun King (red mushrooms). For both those reasons, and their low calorie payout, that it is very disadvantageous to end up simply eating them. When the druid polymorphs he drops (most) everything he has equipped - depending on the form, even cursed items (you will need the animal forms talent to do this at a whim). This enables utilizing decent cursed equipment and identifying whether items are cursed or blessed (as long as he can equip them). This is necessary for the druid since most of his starting equipment barely has any protection (like the White Witch there are no enchantments on his robe). He'll need to upgrade his armor if he hopes to survive past the first floor. The ability to cast spells is not as necessary if you go immediately for the animal forms talent, since the giant ant transformation will enable you to kill most creatures easily early on, and non-combat spells can be cast outside of combat, in his undies if need be. Keep some things in mind when polymorphing in regards to your health and mana: * Essentially, their current human levels will determine your animal form's current levels; polymorphing at 50% health and mana will mean your animal form will start with around ~50% of its health and mana as well, meaning it is recommended you polymorph right away in a tough fight as every HP you lose as a human will affect your performance as an animal, and that you don't waste too much mana casting other spells while in human form, since you may need that mana both while polymorphed, or to re-transform if your animal form is "killed". The trick here is that it is one way; when you return to human form, your health and mana will be reset to their prior amount (minus the mana cost to polymorph), regardless of how much of each you lost as an animal. When in animal form, many of your spells may still be available, meaning you shouldn't be afraid to completely expend your mana by casting spells while in animal form! It also means you are best off saving health and mana potions for human form. It is also very important to note that any experience points (EXP) you earn while polymorphed will transfer over to your human form when you revert. However, other boons such as gaining stat bonuses from certain potions, foods, and/or randomly from a fountain will apply to the polymorph form only and be permanently lost when you transform back into a human. Always save these methods of raising your stats for when you are a human. The simple truth is the Druid will generally have a relatively hard time starting out, atleast until you can begin shape shifting, and even then you will have some strategizing to do. Beast mastery is not a bad talent to go for, as it allows you to bring along backup and worry far less about them stealing your kills (and thus EXP) once you get it to tier 3. This talent synergizes extremely well with wands of summon monster and other similar magical effects as each monster summoned will be guaranteed* (only at tier 3) to be mesmerized and will help you fight, meaning in bad situations, you can summon a small army to protect you, or at the very least act as meat shields, just remember to actually tell them to attack. Also, though even the tier 3 Animal Forms will only get you so far into the dungeon and does not unlock new forms as you level up, the passive polymorph control it provides means that if you are polymorphed by other means such as a wand, trap, or spell - that you will have access to a unique list of monsters depending on your level, in the long run these are far more effective than any animal form, but make the talent still worth having later on. As well, some of the different forms have a much higher (or lower!) carrying capacity, allowing the druid to grab more loot and sell it if that's your persuasion. However, they may often have a lower charisma, which will affect the prices merchants will pay for your goods, meaning it may be best to change back into human form before selling. They also have a separate hunger timer, meaning if you are finding yourself starving to death, it is worth shifting into a new form to buy yourself time for finding food, but be sure to change back before eating what you find. Additionally, caution needs to be exercised around unknown amulets. Most players might rely on turning back into a human on death while polymorphed and will encounter instant permadeath if an amulet of unchanging is worn. Since you otherwise do not die when reaching 0hp while polymorphed, you should also be sure to remove your amulet of life saving - if one is equipped - just to make sure it isn't wasted. Category:Classes